iOS update brings horrifying new emoji, as well as correcting gender balance of cartoon characters
A bizarre, distended orange lying face has been added to the keyboard
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Apple has launched its newest iOS update, bringing with it a huge range of new emoji – some of which are a little odd.
The new update, numbered iOS 10.2, is now available for everyone with an iPhone or iPad to download. It has a corresponding update to macOS Sierra, which also enables the new emoji.
Many of the changes have been long-trailed and heralded as important additions to the emoji keyboards. Those include things like new professions, with teachers, astronauts and scientists, as well as gender options meant to address the apparent sexism coded into some of the previous choices.
And it also brings a huge range of more specific options. Those include changes to the faces to make them more detailed and add characters like a pregnant woman and a green face to depict sickness.
Some emoji stay the same after the update, despite suggestions they would change. The peach, for instance, has long been said to look like a person’s behind and has been used that way in texts – Apple threatened to change that to make it more realistic, but appears to have relented.
But perhaps the most notable and topical is a bizarre-looking orange lying face that has been added to the keyboard. That character, which satisfies the need for an emoji depicting a liar, appears to be based on Pinocchio and has a long nose coming out of it.
The emoji update comes with iOS 10.2, which is available now. The easiest way to download it is to head to the Settings app, click General and choose Software update.
According to Apple’s official release notes, “Emoji have been beautifully redesigned to reveal even more detail, and over 100 new emoji have been added including new faces, food, animals, sports and professions”.
As well as the new emoji, 10.2 brings with it a new TV app that’s intended to make it easier to watch videos through a range of different services.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments